What is Gender Responsive Budgeting?

What is GRB? GRB analyses the government budget for impact on women & men, girls & boys Ideally, GRB goes beyond simple male-female to look at location, age, ethnicity & class (rich/poor), etc

What is GRB? (continued) GRB =policy analysis that goes beyond words on paper checks money is allocated to implement the words checks whether money is spent as allocated checks who money reaches checks whether money changes ‘bad’ gender patterns in society GRB says Budget = most important policy of government because without money no policy will work

What GRB is not NOT about separate budgets for women, men, girls or boys NOT (for us) about setting aside X% for gender/women NOT about money for women councillors to control NOT about 50% male:50% female for every expenditure NOT (only) about ‘women’s needs’

Unpaid care work Gender (& GRB) also about new concepts eg UNPAID CARE WORK = housework, cooking, caring for kids, aged and sick people, etc If unpaid care work is not done… society will be less efficient & less healthy and happy If government does not deliver health or care services, women in household do so instead

3 categories of GRB analysis 1: Targeted gender-based expenditures Women's health programmes Special education initiatives for girls 2: Equal employment expenditure on govt employees Training for clerical officers or women managers Provision of crèche facilities 3: General budget expenditure judged for impact on male and female Who needs adult education & how much spent on it? Who are users of contraceptive services?

Challenges of 3 category approach Should it be ‘women’ or ‘gender’? Tendency to focus on first category because easiest: 1st category important as affirmative action/positive discrimination BUT Danger of focusing on crumbs Can give misleading picture e.g. Pakistan expenditure on girls’ schools Some interpret 2nd category as % of salaries & allowances going to women: Important question because large % of budgets is salaries Danger of focusing on relatively privileged government officials vs poor people in communities

5 steps of GRB Describe situation of women & men, girls & boys (and different sub-groups) in the sector Check whether policy is gender-sensitive i.e. whether addresses situation described [Budget speak: ‘Activities’ ] Check that adequate budget is allocated to implement gender-sensitive policy [Budget speak: ‘Inputs’] Check whether expenditure is spent as planned [Budget speak: ‘Outputs’] Examine impact of policy & expenditure i.e. whether it has promoted gender equity as intended [Budget speak: ‘Outcomes’ or ‘Impact’]

Benefits of doing GRB Improved accountability of governments and representatives towards gender equality, women’s needs and empowerment and women’s rights as in CEDAW, Beijing PFA and Constitution Improved efficiency by ensuring that those who need it most benefit from public expenditures Improved transparency and reduced corruption